


Drop-off Day

by WatchforWitches



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: College Student Adam Parrish, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, college drop off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24266734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatchforWitches/pseuds/WatchforWitches
Summary: Ronan awoke on what he had been not lovingly referring to as drop off day. It wasn’t really even a drop-off, he knew. Adam had finally allowed Ronan to drive him and his boxes to Harvard. It really felt more like a day of leaving.OR Ronan takes Adam to Harvard and they both have feelings about this
Relationships: Henry Cheng/Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 9
Kudos: 98





	Drop-off Day

**Author's Note:**

> This came about from listening to The Raven Boys for like the fourth time and missing these two, and also just wanting to write about the process of Adam leaving for school and the emotions of that. This past year I actually left my home to study in Ireland (I'm from Canada) and saying goodbye to my family was really hard, so I channelled those memories into this as well, and I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Latin translation:  
> Es securus- Be safe  
> Semper- Always

Ronan awoke on what he had been not lovingly referring to as _drop off day_. It wasn’t really even a drop-off, he knew. Adam had finally allowed Ronan to drive him and his boxes to Harvard. It really felt more like a day of leaving. And he tried not to be upset. 

He knew he wasn’t really upset. He was more proud and happy for Adam than he was upset he was leaving, and they’d talked about the fact that he would return plenty. He wasn’t leaving, Ronan knew. 

But it felt like he was. 

Ronan was alone in bed, and he rubbed at his eyes as he heaved himself into a seated position. Adam was across the room, closing one of his smaller bags that held the textbooks he had ordered early, and the laptop that he had let Ronan get him as a birthday gift.

_“You need a laptop Parrish, and if you get a shitty one you’re just gonna get frustrated and annoyed as you do with your car. It’s not productive in a study environment.”_

_Adam snorted, “How would you know anything about productive study environments.”_

_Ronan shrugged, turned back to his own computer’s screen, looked at Adam, and added the MacBook to his cart._

“Hey,” he spoke, voice deeper and thicker with sleep. 

Adam looked up at this and abandoned his overflooded backpack to sit next to Ronan on the bed. “Hey.” 

Ronan could hear the excitement in his voice, and his heart bloomed, killing most of the apprehension. “Excited?” 

Adam nodded a little and smiled, “Yeah. And nervous.” 

“It’ll be fine,” Ronan told him, voice so sure he believed it himself, that he too would be fine. 

Adam lay half across Ronan’s torso, propping his chin on his hands over Ronan’s bare chest. “We have a couple of hours before we have to leave. Want coffee?” 

Ronan snorted then, loudly, “Fuck that, that’s what drive-thrus are for Parrish. I want you to take your clothes off and get back into this bed.” 

Adam laughed, Ronan could be awfully forward when he wanted something, a reversal of his normally pliant and awestruckness when they actually slept together. Normally, Adam would either tell him to shove it, or meet him in the shower if he was so desperate, but he knew this was the last time he’d be in this bed for at least a month or two, so he got up and allowed Ronan his request, savouring the smirk that had appeared, and memorizing the specific shit-eating grin. 

-

When they actually got out of bed, they both without words went to shower together. It was a little cramped with the two of them, standing in front of one another, but there was an unspoken yearning to not be separated between them, so neither of them acknowledged it. Ronan washed through Adam’s hair wordlessly, and Adam allowed it wordlessly. They just stood there getting clean until the water had gone from hot to warm, and then Ronan had turned it off. 

Adam picked one of Ronan’s shirts to wear, a navy tee that he had washed recently, and his own jeans and Ronan silently approved of Adam taking even that small piece of Ronan with him to stay. 

_Is there any version of you that could come with me to Cambridge?_

The words had burned in his head since the night that Adam had uncharacteristically said them, pressed against Ronan’s side on the couch. He hadn’t answered, and he hadn’t even thought of the possibility of it. It felt enormous, but also strange that it had taken Adam as long to propose it. It was both obvious, and unforeseen. 

His dreaming was sporadic now, but it was still not something he had been willing to gamble with, not so far away from the Barns, not when there were nights he woke up covered in black nightwash. 

He had pressed _maybe_ into Adam’s skin like a promise, and it had been good enough then.

Adam had asked it after the week of anxiety he held and voiced about Harvard, about whether or not it would be the best place for him, about whether or not he was worth it. Ronan looked away from all the brochures and letter prints and pressed himself to Adam, telling him how stupid it was of him to think he couldn’t belong somewhere, telling him he was worth anything he wanted. 

But it was always the maybes in between that worried Ronan the most. Maybe he should have agreed more eagerly, maybe he shouldn’t have imagined a version of Adam that would leave for Harvard and find someone better. Maybe he should have graduated, although that one he knew was wrong.

The plan worked if Adam left if he got to leave and finally achieve what he wanted his whole life. And if he came back or not, Ronan tried not to worry. 

They had moved all his stuff to the car the day and night before, so there were only a few bags left, which Ronan insisted upon carrying for him. “Opal’s gonna want to hug you. She’s pissed you’re leaving.” 

Adam knew this, had explained to Opal multiple times why he was leaving, and that they could video chat, and that he would always come back home. A part of him remembered that Opal was a piece of Ronan and that her fears may be his own, so he spoke the reassurances loud enough for both of them to hear. 

“Time to go then,” Adam breathed in a deep breath and the two left their room and made the trek downstairs, where Opal was, in fact, waiting for them. 

“I made you a card Adam,” she pressed the folded page into his palms carefully, with a grand smile lighting her face, “So you can hang it on your wall to remember me.” 

Adam looked at the crayon drawing of the three of them standing in front of what must be the Barns. His heart ached. “I love it, Opal,” he told her, crouching down to his level, “But I could never forget you, and I promise I’ll come to visit as soon as I can okay?” 

Opal nodded at this, then threw her arms around Adam in a fierce hug that he returned just as fierce. His eyes stung with the threat of tears, but he willed them away and he pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Es securus,” she whispered to him softly. 

“Semper,” He whispered back to her. 

“Come on brat he’s not dying he’s going to school like 7 hours away he’ll be fine.” Ronan groaned, returning to the scene after putting the last of the bags away. 

Opal merely turned her head and stuck out her tongue at him, before turning her attention back to Adam, and kissing his cheek softly. “I’ll miss you.” 

“I’ll miss you too,” Adam told her earnestly. “Call me tomorrow okay?” 

“Okay,” she nodded happily as he got up and put on his shoes, finally about to leave. 

She waved frantically at the two of them as they climbed into the car together, watching from the rearview, Adam waved back, watching the Barns grow smaller and smaller until it was gone and the road in front of them was all there was. 

-

They did stop somewhere for coffee and a disgusting amount of breakfast foods that Ronan had insisted upon. Adam found himself unbothered by this, as he popped another hashbrown into his mouth. “Do you remember which dorm it is?” Adam asked, even though they were still several hours from Cambridge. 

“Yes Parrish, Thayer.” Ronan replied, “Pretty sure it’s tattooed on me somewhere the number of times you’ve said the name of it.” 

Adam didn’t shrink at this like he once would have, just shrugged and sipped his still too hot coffee. “Did you sleep last night at all?” Ronan asked him. 

Adam hummed at this, “A little yeah. Woke up early to pack the rest of my shit.” 

Ronan laughed at this, “You’ve been packed for nearly a week, Parrish. Pretty sure your checklist is frayed from you holding it so much.” 

“I like to be prepared,” Adam argued. 

“Sure Gansey,” Ronan teased him, rolling his eyes at the outstretched road. 

Adam lightly punched his arm for that one, and Ronan snorted a pleased laugh. “Gansey was ready to go on their road trip for like a month before they left, I’m not that bad.” 

Ronan just kept laughing, “Whatever you say, Parrish.” 

He remembers his own invitation on that trip, Gansey offering it like it was obvious, that of course, Ronan could come with them. Ronan looked at Adam and Blue playing video games on the floor and shaking his head. He hadn’t wanted to then, and he was glad he hadn’t if whatever strange unspoken energy between Gansey Blue and Henry had been what he thought. 

“You think they’ve hooked up yet?” Adam asked then as if he was reading Ronan’s mind. 

“Who Gansey and Blue?” He cringed at this, “I mean I still lived at Monmouth a few weeks after the whole thing and I mean from what I heard-” 

“No,” Adam interrupted, not wanting to hear any more of whatever Ronan was going to say, at the funny thought of Ronan condensing Gansey dying to _the whole thing._ “Like the three of them.” 

Ronan shrugged, “Probably. I’d be more surprised if they had waited until the road trip started.” 

“Gross,” Adam laughed lightly, looking out the window and watching as the forests and trees turned to cars and concrete. 

“Very,” Ronan agreed, watching Adam gaze wistfully out at the world. 

_It’s yours,_ Ronan thought to himself, _The world is yours. I’m yours, I’ll be yours as long as you still want me. My heart is yours._

“You can sleep,” Ronan says aloud instead, “If you’re tired.” 

Adam shakes his head at the suggestion, “No I’m okay.” 

Adam just silently didn’t want to waste his time with Ronan sleeping, and Ronan was silently happy about this. 

\- 

“God,” Ronan groaned as he set down the last box of Adam’s stuff in his bare dorm room. “My back’s gonna hate me tomorrow.” 

“You aren’t that old Lynch,” Adam laughed. 

The laugh turned quiet when he met Ronan’s gaze, both of them silent with the knowledge that it was time for Ronan to leave and get back to the Barns, and for Adam to stay here and start his new life. “Do not forget to eat breakfast,” Ronan started, voice thick and uncharacteristically serious. 

“I won’t,” Adam shook his head, smiling. “Remember to call when you get back, I told Opal I’d talk to her.” 

“Alright,” Ronan agreed. 

They stood like this, just looking at one another a few more silent moments before Ronan tugged the edges of his shirt Adam was wearing closer and wrapped his arms around Adam, squeezing hard. 

Adam sunk into the hug, putting his hand on the back of Ronan’s head, grabbing a hand full of his shirt at his hip. “Don’t get a speeding ticket on your way back please,” Adam whispered, knowing full well Ronan was in no hurry to leave. 

“Okay,” he whispered the words against Adam’s neck. 

“I’ll visit soon. I promise,” Adam told him, making his voice even, making the words count. 

“Okay,” Ronan repeated. He took in an uneven breath of air before he spoke again. “Adam?” 

“Yeah?” Adam asked, voice bleeding his Henrietta accent everywhere. 

“I love you,” Ronan said into his neck, words loud enough for Adam to hear, but only just. 

It both surprised Adam and didn’t. Ronan hadn’t said those words out loud to him, after Adam’s admission of being afraid of love, of not knowing enough about it early on in their relationship. But he spoke it into everything he did. Every time he pressed some small dreamt gift to Adam, every time he made him coffee how he liked it, all the nights he stayed up with Adam worrying over schools. It was like hearing the answer to a question he had already known the answer to, a secret that he had already heard. 

And he felt the tears fall then, the ones that had been sitting in the back of his throat for the better part of the day. They finally fell at the admission of love. He pulled himself back just enough to meet Ronan’s eyes, which were glassy if he looked closely enough. “I love you too,” he said back because it was true because it had been true for a long time and it was finally time he said it. Because nothing had ever felt like home to him before Ronan and his unwavering place in his heart. 

They kissed soundly, Ronan rubbing his thumbs across Adam’s cheeks to wipe the tears away. “I’m so fucking proud of you Parrish.” 

“I’m proud of me too,” Adam admitted, knowing these words would mean more to Ronan than anything else he could say in response. That he was proud of Ronan too? No, Ronan wouldn’t have cared. Ronan just wanted to ensure that Adam knew that he believed in him, and he wanted to ensure that Adam believed in himself as well. “You better go before Opal ruins the place.”

Ronan groaned at this and rolled his eyes. “That little brat I swear to god.” And started to move towards the door.

“Hey,” Adam caught his attention then, “See you soon?” 

“Yeah of course,” Ronan told him, “You’re going to block my number the number of texts I’ll send you.” 

Adam smiled, “Ronan Lynch is going to use his cellphone?” 

“Unfortunately,” Ronan agreed in mock defeat. “I better go.” 

“Okay,” Adam stole one last lingering kiss then, squeezing Ronan’s hand where he had interlaced their fingers. “I love you.” He added before Ronan left, just because it was true and he wanted to. 

“Love you too Parrish,” Ronan told him before leaving, closing the door to the dorm with a soft click. 

And if anyone saw Ronan’s face wet with tears as he walked back to his car through the horde of freshmen, nobody said anything about it. 

**Author's Note:**

> I realized after I was almost done that I didn't think about Adam's car, so please imagine that they drove it down and left it there for him earlier, or that it would be sent to Adam one way or another, he gets his car, I'm just a forgetful writer. 
> 
> Other than that I hope you enjoyed haha, comments/suggestions/requests/kudos are all very welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for reading! <3


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